phuckphace
July 11th, 2014, 04:39 AM
...and nationalism too, since that's always fun.
a recent conversation I had with a friend got me thinking about the crucial role that populism has (or should have) in the nationalist movement. this friend of mine is an IRL Neo-Nazi, complete with a swastika flag on his wall and a poster of der Führer. seriously. anyway, although he and I agree on quite a few things, there was always this thing about his rhetoric that bugged me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. then slowly I realized it was that my friend, like pretty much everyone else in the Neo-Nazi movement, is way over his head in a personality cult. they have these big fanciful dreams where a strong charismatic leader shows up and kills everyone they don't like. they don't ever ponder how this would affect the ordinary citizen who will be feeling the sharp end of their proposed policies. I guess because they always imagine themselves in charge. although I admit that is a fun thought experiment to indulge in every now and then, you have to look at everything both ways.
so yeah - nationalism, without a strong focus on obtaining the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens (populism) won't last long if all it's just built around a cult of one man. what are you dipshits going to do after the Big Man dies? nationalist movements that are motivated by fear and loathing rather than strong populist foundations and goals simply won't last more than a generation, if that. if nationalism is to succeed, we need to adopt the "greater good" stance first and make every effort to distinguish ourselves from the "I really hate that guy" folks.
a recent conversation I had with a friend got me thinking about the crucial role that populism has (or should have) in the nationalist movement. this friend of mine is an IRL Neo-Nazi, complete with a swastika flag on his wall and a poster of der Führer. seriously. anyway, although he and I agree on quite a few things, there was always this thing about his rhetoric that bugged me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. then slowly I realized it was that my friend, like pretty much everyone else in the Neo-Nazi movement, is way over his head in a personality cult. they have these big fanciful dreams where a strong charismatic leader shows up and kills everyone they don't like. they don't ever ponder how this would affect the ordinary citizen who will be feeling the sharp end of their proposed policies. I guess because they always imagine themselves in charge. although I admit that is a fun thought experiment to indulge in every now and then, you have to look at everything both ways.
so yeah - nationalism, without a strong focus on obtaining the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens (populism) won't last long if all it's just built around a cult of one man. what are you dipshits going to do after the Big Man dies? nationalist movements that are motivated by fear and loathing rather than strong populist foundations and goals simply won't last more than a generation, if that. if nationalism is to succeed, we need to adopt the "greater good" stance first and make every effort to distinguish ourselves from the "I really hate that guy" folks.